We really enjoyed our stay here. Corrado, Isabella and the Spitale family are great hosts and its clearly important to them that you are happy in their beautiful villa. Corrado especially went out of his way to be as helpful as possible, nothing was too much trouble and although his English is limited, we managed to converse well, with Gaia and Giulio on hand to translate whenever needed. The villa is a typical rustic Sicilian villa, in a lovely location with a backdrop of mini mountains. There is lots of space surrounding the villa, with almond, lemon, olive and pomegranate trees, from which you are free to pick your fill. The pool area is fab, with a larger than average sized pool, which Corrado keeps spotlessly clean. The sea views from the full-length bedroom windows is a joy to wake up to every morning and a delight to see the twinkling town lights in the evening. There are no immediate neighbours so you have complete privacy and it was great to be able to eat outside every night, even in mid-October. The villa is not in walking distance from the town so, as we all like a glass of wine or two and love to cook, we chose to eat in every night. The villa has everything needed to do this and there are two good supermarkets nearby and a fishmonger in Avola. We were able to get lots of lovely Sicilian produce at Conrad, which has a fab meat and deli counter. We used the wood fired pizza oven (with some advice from Corrado) a couple of times, which was fun for everyone to join in with and the built-in barbecue area is really good too. Having the chickens was also a real bonus, especially being able to collect fresh eggs every day.
We didn’t spend much time in Avola itself (which is about 10 mins from the villa by car), so cant really comment on it. Noto and Siracusa are around 30 mins away, both beautiful and well worth a visit. There is a large amphitheatre in Siracusa and the Ortygia area is lovely, with quaint streets, lots of little restaurants and boutique shops and a food market. Ragusa is around 1 ½ hours away and Modica is en route, both stunning Baroque towns. We also had a nice day at Calamosche beach in the Vendicari National Park.
I would definitely recommend this villa and would like to come back in the future. Thank you Spitale family – you did a good job!
